Sellsy's Sunday Supplement

To say the Finals day was disappointing is an understatement, something we, as Somerset supporters, should be used too, but it hurts even more than last year, the year before, the year before that and so on. I am pretty sure it must hurt just as bad for the team.

So my track record at finals is now getting worse, 12 finals and I have only seen Somerset win twice. I am sure I am not the only supporter who has a similar record to me, but it hurts. What also hurts is the County Championship. Again it is going to be in touching distance, but out of clutches yet again.

So no doubt the inquests have already started on yesterday and I would expect this season, another nearly season. I know, as I have already spoken to a few friends about this season, it seems difficult to put your finger on any one reason.

I am not going to dwell on it, as I have faith in Marcus and the team. What a wonderful brand of cricket they give us, exciting, promising, nail-biting, breath taking, I think you know what I mean. I will still be first in the queue for my season ticket renewal, I will anticipate the release of the 2013 fixtures, write them in my diary and start to plan away trips.

But hey, still a few weeks to go for 2012, and their prospect in making life difficult for Warwickshire and Sussex in their quest for the County Championship.

On one last note, what great support Somerset had yesterday at Cardiff, still the best supported county by far and on the evidence yesterday, it showed.

Sellsy's Olympic Supplement (SOS) - Part 3

Or a tour around the pubs of London looking for Gold!!! 

What an achievement for Team GB, 29 gold medals, wow, with 17 silver’s and 19 bronze medals a fantastic achievement, the best in my lifetime by far. I still remember the Atlanta games where GB won only one gold, where has it all gone right? I wonder if Charles van Commenee will resign though.

Now if anyone who deserves gold it must go to us volunteers. I remember going back to one of my first training sessions at Wembley on a snowy winter’s day, where the message was that we will make the difference between a good games and a fantastic one, well I hope we did make a difference, I am pretty sure we did. The reception we got from the crowd when Lord Coe made reference to volunteers in his speech at the closing ceremony brought a tear to my eye.

My one regret is that I couldn’t find a pub anywhere in London that serves Thatchers Cider, must of visited more that 20 during the time I was in the capital, but not one Thatchers to be seen. The closest was just outside the British Museum, where they had Westons, not bad, but at £4.20 a go you are having a laugh, but did have a couple. The guy behind the bar, after he gave me my change from a gold bar, mentioned that he did had Thatchers on, but sold the last pint some 45 minutes ago, if only I left the museum earlier!

Holloway, north London, near Arsenal FC, a great little cosmopolitan area of London and I found a great little Irish bar called The Quays. After my first visit and I went in after a long shift for the second time, they already knew what my tipple was and after making friends with the locals and staff were easy plus they made it easy, as they were so welcoming. I do hope (and expect) they celebrated the gold medal of Katie Taylor long into the night. Thanks all for making me so welcome and I hope you enjoyed your Olympic experience, what next Gaelic Football as a new Olympic sport?

So after pounding the streets of London and visiting almost every pub (and not finding a Thatchers anywhere), here are my top three ciders I found in the capital:

• Bronze: Strongbow (only because they sold it in The Quays)
• Silver: Aspall Cyder (not spelt correctly I know, but it does come from Suffolk!)
• Gold: Kingstone Press (but not as good as Thatchers).

Ok, enough about cider, except coming back to The Cottage at Keenthorne and having that pint was most pleasant indeed. I have been told that the cellar has a few barrels in there, where the levels of consumption had gone down since I have been away in the capital.

Now, in my short time as a volunteer in the Athletes Village I got to meet loads of different athletes, from various nations, competing in various sports. It was great to see them competing on TV knowing I met them earlier and hopefully making their Olympic experience one not to forget, with my influence of course. So here are some of the athletes I have met who competed in London 2012: 

• Martina Hrasnova – Slovakia – Hammer – Qualifying round
• Xing Han – Congo – Table Tennis – First round
• Sviatlana Khakhlova– Belarus – Swimming - Heats
• Rene Philippe Kouassi – Ivory Coast – Archer – Round of 64
• British Men’s Handball Team – Group stages
• Louise Jukes – Britain – Handball – Played five, won none
• Mohammed Rasheed – Maldives – Badminton – Group stages
• Vasiliki Arvanitu – Greece – Beach Volleyball – Won one match in Pool B
• LaVerne Jones-Ferrette – American Virgin Islands – Athletics – Semi-finals in 100 and 200 meters
• Nigerian Basketball Team – Won one out of five group games
• Armands Zvirbulis – Latvia – Wrestler – Quarter-final
• Belinda Stowell – Australia – Sailing – 6^th in Women’s 470
• Andrea St Bernard – Grenada – Taekwondo – Last 16
• Simic Mateja – Slovenia – Triathlon – 37th
• Lizanne Murphy – Canada – Basketball – 4^th in Group B, lost to USA in quarter-final
• Krystal Weir – Australia – Sailing – Women’s Laser Radial – Did not qualify for medal race
• Jessica Crisp – Australia – Sailing – Women’s RS-X - Did not qualify for medal race
• Edward Riner – France – Judo - +100KG – Gold medal winner
• Michael Phelps – USA – Swimming – Gold’s galore
• Asuka Teramoto – Japan – Gymnastics – Individual all round – 11^th, Team 8th
• Yuko Shintake – Japan – Gymnastics – Women’s Team 8th
• Al-Kubati – Yemen – Taekwondo – Quarter-final
• Ivet Lalova – Bulgaria – Athletics – 100 and 200 meters semi-final
• Paddy Barnes – Ireland – Boxer – Bronze
• Michael Conlan – Ireland – Boxer – Bronze
• John Joe Nevin - Ireland – Boxer – Silver
• Katie Taylor - Ireland – Boxer – Gold
• Sanya Richards-Ross – USA – Sprinter – Gold 400 meters, 5^th 200 meters, Gold 4 x 400 meters relay
• Deedee Trotter – USA – Sprinter – Bronze 400 meters, Gold 4 x 400 meters relay
• Patrick Tuara – Cook Islands – Athletics – Heats 100 meters
• Thailand Badminton Squad
• Juan Manual Cano – Argentina – Athletics – Men’s 20km walk – 22^nd
• Argentina Women’s Hockey Team  - Silver
• Stefanie Schwaiger and Doris Schwaiger – Austria – Women’s Beach Volleyball – Quarter-final
• Mihai Bobocica – Italy – Table Tennis – 2^nd Round

And not forgetting: Croatian Athletics, Paraguayan Athletics, Korean Volleyball, Mexican Weightlifters, Chilean Gymnast and Shooter, Belgian Cyclist, St Lucia Sprinter, Palestine Judo, Belgian Hockey, French Gymnastics, Turkmenistan Judo, Portuguese Gymnastics, Paraguayan Swimming, Burkina Faso Judo, Chinese Cycling, Serbian Shooters, German Badminton, Barbados Athletics, Madagascar Judo and Indonesian Badminton. Plus some very pleasant representatives from the USA (I told them it would not rain!), Marshall Islands and Jamaica. And finally, Dagmawit Berhane, a representative from the IOC. 

The top three athletes I met:

• Bronze: Lizanne Murphy, from Canada who played basketball. Gave us a question which none of us could answer, she only wanted to buy the posters from the basketball venue, I wonder if she succeeded.
• Silver: Teddy Riner, from France, who won gold for Judo. Pigeon French, meets pigeon English, very polite guy, full of muscle, do hope he found what he was looking for.
• Gold: Andrea St Bernard, from Grenada who competed in Taekwondo. The most polite athlete I met during my period in the Athlete’s Village, made the last 16. Now if I ever want a lawyer, I know who to call!!!!

In my eyes the performance of the Games was the men’s 800 meters where David Rudisha not only won gold, but done so in a world record, very difficult for a middle distance runner without a pacemaker, in fact Rudisha was the pacemaker as everyone who finished done a personal best or similar. Britain’s Andrew Osagie time would have been good enough to win gold in Beijing four years ago.  

The most heroic goes to the US runner Manteo Mitchell in the 4 x 400 meters relay semi-final, who broke his leg half way round and still finished his lap. The US went on to qualify for the final and got a silver. 

The most tearful was myself, as when I woke up in the middle of the night wanting the bathroom, thought I was at home rather than my friends flat, and as I was still sleepy I walked into the wall and I stubbed my toe, ouch! 

The biggest disgrace of the games was the food hall in the Olympic Village, when I saw it had toad-in-the-hole one day, great I thought, but with couscous, I ask you. I wonder if the athletes had the same menu. 

The funniest moment, apart from Eric Idle, was the Indian driver, who we thought he was saying he was a diver. Yes lost in translation a little, but it made us chuckle, especially as he was at the aquatics desk for some 30 minutes. The Jamaican whop wanted the AA came a close second. 

Lastly, the scariest moment was when I was propositioned by a lady of the night at Archway tube station at 5.15am in the morning, I wonder if she was doing overtime?  

Ok, short time as a volunteer, long memories, great people to work with and guess what, the Games have finished and it has started to rain, must still be cricket season!!! 

Ok, 5.27pm (nearly), time for a an Olympic size Thatchers, how apt it’s call Thatchers GOLD!!!!!